Relationships
Industrial ecology can be considered the “production” component of sustainable development. The most
important aspect of industrial ecology is the idea of industry as an system in which there is no waste at any
step because all “waste” is a resource for another part of the industry network. Individual firms participate
in industrial ecology by considering how their activities fit into the larger industrial system, for example,
what other industries can use our company’s wastes as inputs, and how can we work with them? This concept
is thus one of the relationship and dynamics between companies. To make industrial ecology work of
course requires conscious application of the lower level concepts on the staircase as well as a motivation to
sustainable development.